Jim Moody '58 Sc.M. '65 P'97 and Naeem Zafar '81 were honored by the Brown Alumni Association last weekend, in recognition of the difference outstanding alumni have made for Brown and for the world. The Alumni Service Awards are given each year in the fall during Alumni Fall Weekend to honor distinguished, continuing volunteer service to Brown University.
Moody has expertly orchestrated a full range of activities and communications to engage his class between reunion years. From mini-reunion weekends in New York City to the famous and innovative Class of 1958 blog, Jim works tirelessly to ensure that classmates are engaged with each other and with the University. The former President of Co-Planar, Inc., a manufacturer of circuit boards, Moody retired in 2000. Prior to co-founding Co-Planer in 1978, he was employed at Alpha Metals in Jersey City, N.J., and Texas Instruments in Attleboro, Mass. Moody earned his Sc.B and Sc.M in engineering from Brown in 1958 and 1965, respectively. From 1959-62, he served in the U.S. Navy as a naval officer.
Zafar is the founding president of the Brown Club of Silicon Valley where he has worked to create a new and vibrant presence for Brown. Supremely dedicated to mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, Zafar continues to serve as a visiting professor of the practice in Brown's School of Engineering, in addition to mentoring students and young alumni in Silicon Valley. Until November 2013, he was the president and CEO of Bitzer Mobile, a company that was purchased by Oracle in 2013. He is the founder of Startup-Advisor.com and focuses on educating and advising entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting and running a company. Zafar was an electrical engineering concentrator as an undergraduate at Brown.